‘Digital Overhaul’ Services

> IS IT TIME FOR A ‘HEALTH CHECK’ OF YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING, ADMISSIONS & COMMUNICATIONS?

As the 2017-2018 academic year draws to a close, you are probably reviewing your marketing, admissions and communications activity… if you’re not then you probably plan to (and you almost certainly should be).

Digital plays an increasingly important role in the marketing, admissions and communications for all Schools & Colleges but you may feel you lack the necessary expertise:

to properly audit your digital activity (and the services of any suppliers),

to learn from previous experience,

to identify areas for improvement, and

to address issues identified, maximising your investment over the next academic year.

Our ‘Digital Overhaul’ package was created for our existing clients and is now available as a ‘stand alone’ package – to provide an expert, independent audit and improvement service for your School or College, working in your best interests and for your long-term benefit.

Please scroll down this page to read about our ‘Digital Overhaul’ service or click on the sub-headings below to be taken to a particular section (or contact us now if you are ready to enquire further):

If you can answer “Yes” to all the following questions… you (probably) don’t need our help!

Q:Are you confident you are maximising your budgets and resources to successfully attract the right numbers and types of prospective parents and pupils/students?

Q:Are you then ‘converting’ them successfully into enquiries, registrations and enrolments?

Q:Are you and your colleagues confident you are fully exploiting the opportunities, features and functionality offered by key digital channels, platforms, networks and tools?

Q:Are you and your colleagues regularly reviewing and developing your digital strategy through benchmarking and the sharing of best practice, tips and techniques?

If you answered “No” to any of the questions above then it is probably timely for you to engage independent expert help to ‘take stock’ of your School or College’s current digital marketing, admissions and communications as you look back over the last academic year and plan for the next… we are ready to help.

It is surprising how few Schools & Colleges take time to review their digital activity properly every 3-12 months to learn from previous experience and implement improvements going forward.

Yes, a commitment to continuous review and improvement requires an investment of time and money… but this can be hugely beneficial, especially given the very considerable budget many Schools & College are investing in their marketing and admissions each year.

Clearly it is bad practice to continue spending scarce funds month by month, year by year, without investing a percentage of those funds in regular review, analysis and improvement. It should be at the core of all you do.

Analysis and review, especially with the help of independent experts, will enable you to do better… increasing efficiency and reducing costs long-term, enabling you to maximise your School or College’s marketing and admissions budget and refine your digital communications.

We can help you review your activity over the last academic year and determine your strategy for 2018-2019 with a timely ‘health check’ now on your digital communications:

To review how well your web presence, Social Media and other digital communications are serving you.

To identify how you could do better in 2018-2019?

Please see below for full details of our ‘Digital Overhaul’ package providing auditing and consultancy support…

[Interested in commissioning a ‘Digital Overhaul’ audit and follow-up consultancy for your School or College? For more information and costing please contact us in confidence.]

> COST-EFFECTIVE REVIEW & CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Originally created for our long-term clients who recognised the importance of learning from their own experience and that of others, our ‘Digital Overhaul’ service is now available as a ‘stand-alone’ package for Schools and Colleges.

In our experience few schools and colleges have a clear strategy for their digital communications, or if they have a digital marketing and admissions strategy it is often basic and not fully integrated with general communications, marketing and reputation management and is not reviewed or updated frequently enough.

We have also found that many Schools and Colleges (and/or their suppliers) have not properly set-up and/or are not fully utilising the main digital communications tools, channels and platforms available to them.

This is especially surprising given the very considerable budget being spent each year on advertising (traditional and online), website development, prospectuses, open events etc, and the very significant difference the successful enrolment of even one more able pupil or student could make.

Inevitably any School or College’s digital communications, marketing and reputation management will comprise a range of different approaches across a variety of channels and platforms, primarily:

> ‘DIGITAL OVERHAUL’ FOCUSSING ON 6 KEY AREAS

1.0 DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY

Our work looking at your ‘Digital Marketing Strategy’ will include consideration of your in-house resources and use of suppliers and the role of digital communications in your wider admissions and marketing strategy for 2018-2019, with regard to key objectives and your current pupil/student recruitment and future enrolment targets.

2.0 ANALYTICS

Analytics should be at the core of any marketing, admissions and communications undertaken in a School or College but it is often given only cursory consideration.

We will review your current use of analytics, beginning with the set-up of any analytics tools to ensure they are working effectively.

We will reflect on how the analytics tools are being used for tracking, reporting, reviewing and informing your marketing and admissions activities and give you advice on goal setting, conversion monitoring, improved reporting and use of analytics to maximise you ‘return on investment’.

3.0 SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION (SEO)

In looking at the key area of ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ we will undertake an audit of your website’s current page ranking in Google against relevant key words and phrases and review the website’s Meta Tag titles & descriptions and content.

4.0 WEBSITE

We will undertake a review of your website based on User Experience (UX) & Content best practice, considering your navigation logic and likely user journeys for your target audiences, exploring different types of messaging and content on your website (and tone of voice and style), reviewing your use of multimedia (imagery and videos) and the integration of Social Media etc.

We will advise on changes that might be made to your website’s navigation, content and functionality to improve engagement and conversions, with particular consideration of forms, calls-to-action, downloads, invitations to subscribe etc.

5.0 SOCIAL MEDIA

Almost all Schools & Colleges are now using Social Media but there is room for improvement… we will review the use of any of the main Social Media and Multimedia networks by your School or College:

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

LinkedIn

YouTube

We will make suggestions and give tips and techniques for improving the use of the networks and platforms to achieve better engagement, reach and conversion rates.

6.0 ONLINE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

Finally, with the prevalence and importance of the Internet, Social Media and Multimedia for day-to-day communications and the massive influence digital has on opinion and attitude, it is remarkable how poorly Schools & Colleges are prepared for managing their reputation online.

Information, stories and comments can be shared almost instantaneously with little or no containment (geographic or otherwise) and potentially massive reach, impact and influence, whether positive or negative.

As part of the ‘Digital Overhaul’ package we will provide advice on the monitoring of digital communications to track mentions of your School or College and key staff, and also on the monitoring of alumni and competitor schools etc, and give advice on how to respond to those mentions, depending on the intent and sentiment.

[Interested in commissioning a ‘Digital Overhaul’ audit and follow-up consultancy for your School or College? For more information and costing please contact us in confidence.]

> OUR EDUCATION ‘DIGITAL OVERHAUL’ TEAM

The ‘Digital Overhaul’ report and advisory project team working to produce your report and give you advice and training will compromise senior consultants with extensive expertise in digital communications combined with previous experience providing training and advice to Schools and Colleges.

The project team will be led by Matthew D’Arcy, the Managing Director of Click-Recruit-Enrol.com (OMTAC Ltd) and Programme Director for EMCdigital. With over 19 years experience in digital marketing, Matthew leads the delivery of training and consultancy services by Click-Recruit-Enrol to Nurseries, Schools, Colleges and Universities and other learning and training organisations in the UK, Europe and worldwide.

Matthew has worked in a number of commercial sectors and is a former Director of Marketing & Careers for an Independent School and former Enterprise Project Manager at the University of Surrey. He speaks, trains and consults in digital Strategy, Online Advertising, Search Engine Optimisation, Website Development, Mobile Marketing, Social Media, Reputation Management and Analytics.

Other consultants on your ‘Digital Overhaul’ project team may include (amongst others):

Luke Hay – author of the book ‘Analytics: Understanding Is the Heart of Great UX’, Luke is a UK-based User Experience (UX) Consultant working in online communications since the 1990s. Luke has delivered introductory and advanced training and consultancy in Analytics, Website UX and Online Reputation Management to Schools, Colleges and Universities for Click-Recruit-Enrol over the last 7 years, and more recently for EMCdigital. He also delivers Masterclasses and speaks on User Experience (UX), Analytics and SEO at other national and international events such as BrightonSEO.

Clive Andrews – an experienced consultant and trainer in Social Media, Clive works across the Education, Travel, Government and Charity sectors, helping people to use digital tools in smart ways. Clive has delivered introductory and advanced training and consultancy on Social Media for Click-Recruit-Enrol over the last 5 years, and more recently participated in the EMCdigital Masterclass series as a senior trainer.

Liz Boardman – a passionate marketing professional and self-confessed “tech-geek” who has been working in the field of marketing and graphic design for twelve years and in the niche field of digital and email marketing for over 7 years, Liz has worked in both the Education and Event Marketing sectors, with responsibility for Email communications, websites and Social Media. She has provided training and consultancy in the Education sector for Click-Recruit-Enrol over the last 4 years and has delivered EMCdigital Masterclasses since 2016.

Dan O’Driscoll – a business owner, project manager and consultant, Dan has worked on everything from start-up brand design and website projects, through to software design and development for FTSE 100 companies across the fields of digital learning, finance, business-to-business, online retail, mobile & web application development, marketing and business strategy. A web developer with experience working on Education and commercial website projects, Dan has worked on Click-Recruit-Enrol development projects and provided training to Schools, Colleges and Universities over the last 4 years and has delivered EMCdigital Masterclasses since 2016.

The production of a digital audit and advisory report covering the 6 key areas as above (this normally takes 6-12 weeks and involves consultation and communication and the confidential sharing of information between parties).

2 hours of discussion, Q&A and planning by Skype/phone after the report has been submitted, to discuss the report findings and advice given within it. (This may be extended if required, at an additional cost.)

6 hours of ‘follow-up’ consultancy, compromising 1 hour of help by Skype/phone and/or email for each of the 6 areas, to be used within 4 months of the report submission. (Further follow-up consultancy may be provided if required, at an additional cost.)

The cost for the ‘Digital Overhaul’ package depends on the size and type of the School or College but generally starts at £1900 + Vat. (After commissioning additional consultancy may be provided at a discounted cost, if required.)

We would advise that the process be repeated at least every 6-12 months (or more often for a very large institution).

NEXT STEPS…

Ready to find out more about the ‘Digital Overhaul’ service and the likely cost of a package for your School or College?

Please contact us in confidence for more details and an estimated cost for your School or College.

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About CLICK-RECRUIT-ENROL

CLICK-RECRUIT-ENROL provides training, professional development and networking opportunities in digital marketing and admissions for those responsible for pupil and student recruitment and enrolment in Education.